


Written Promise

by PlaguedParadox



Series: Ego Demonverse [3]
Category: markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Succubi & Incubi, Developing Friendships, Friendship, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Torture, Male-Female Friendship, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, POV Third Person, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Platonic dochost, Platonic driplierst, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 21:55:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18979111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlaguedParadox/pseuds/PlaguedParadox
Summary: After having broken out from a strange high security facility, Arthur - or The Author as his file stated - makes his way through the forest using nothing but the remaining fragments of his abilities. That is until he runs into a strange trio of doctors that are more than willing to help.Now, with a new group of friends on his side he needs to find his Muse and protect her from the world that's slowly revealing its true colours to him. All he can do is hope that he can get to her before something dark has a chance to take her from him. Arthur can only hope he can keep his Written Promise.





	Written Promise

 

Tired. So tired. All he felt was exhaustion as he ran blind through the dense forest, the sound of the heavy rain around him distracting him as he tried to listen out for the sound of sirens and people yelling over their walky talkys. The man cursed to himself as he slammed into a tree once again, he was not getting the hang of his current situation but the words running through his head helped, or at least tried to as he stood up and sidestepped the tree he had just ran head first into. He sighed and shook his head, trying to ignore the stinging sensation that coated his forehead, as if he didn’t hurt enough. The small moment of pause was enough for him to realise that the people who chased him far out into the unfamiliar forest were long gone, or rather so far away that he couldn’t figure out where they were, either way it was a good sign, it meant he could rest. But not here, it was too open even if the area was covered with trees, bushes and a thick fog, not to mention the heavy rain which blurred most people’s vision, most people’s but not his - not anymore. 

The man continued to move through the forest, walking this time, taking in the scenery as he did. He couldn’t really remember how long it had been since he had faced the elements of nature, spending over a year at a horrid facility that by all records, shouldn’t have even existed. The people who ran the place shouldn’t have existed. His face scrunched in anger at the thought. If he only had something to write on. If only. But now he could do nothing of the sort, he could only run. Knowing that he only had the words in his head and the ability to run made him feel useless, especially since he didn’t know where he was. A tiny whimper left his lips as the cold from the rain started to seep in, it had already saturated the poor excuse for clothing that hung off of him. The man just wanted to go home, to see his friends and lover, to curl up in his friend’s warm embrace while the scent of their baking filled the room and made him feel more at home than even his own house did, especially while his girl was there. His muse would be running her gentle fingers through his hair, words of comfort and love slipping through her soft lips that always tempted him to kiss them. She was his inspiration ever since they met and he had been planning to ask her to marry him before he was taken. His beautiful muse. The man wondered if she still thought about him like he had thought about her almost every day, the thoughts about her kept him human and stopped him practically writing the surrounding area out of existence. His malnourished form slowly forced him to stop walking, his body yearning for a hot meal and some rest. “Just a little further, Arthur…” The man muttered as he struggled to take another step. “Come on, you need to get somewhere safe! For her...” He growled to himself, only to collapse and punch the ground in frustration. “Dammit!”

As he laid there he could hear people chatting off in the distance, their voices filled with happiness and laughter as someone told a joke. Campers, he reckoned as there would be no way that the people looking for him would be joking. His instincts cried out for him to make a sound, get their attention, to move closer and get help but he didn’t move. They’d surely run if they saw him. The man sighed and shifted closer to a bush on the edge of the clearing he had collapsed in as he heard the sounds of the group’s talking get closer and closer. The words in his head told the man that he wasn’t going to be seen by them where he was so he stopped moving and held himself closer. He felt a warm liquid slowly fall down his cheeks as the words grew more and more intense, narrating everything the group was saying, they were all so happy and he hated it. He hated it, was disgusted by the fact they were normal while he was forced to be the freak of nature he had become. Jealousy was a horrible, tar-like emotion which he wasn’t too used to but anger, oh anger like a dear sweet friend, was something he was accustomed to as he began to dig his nails into his palms, not caring if dirt made its way into the small crescent wounds he created. Why should they be happy while he was miserable?! Why should they be around the people they loved while he had to suffer?! It wasn’t fair! He instinctively reached down for something before stopping, remembering that his journal was long gone, not that he’d be able to use it anyway. 

More of the warm liquid poured down his cheeks, irritating the man as the rain had stopped a small while ago. The horrid metallic odour of the liquid filled his nose and caused him to grimace, he wasn’t used to smelling blood so up close, preferring to use his journal to get things done. He thought back to his best friend, the silent promise to give up his horrendous ways for them and the woman he had planned to make his forever as he had given them his first physical weapon shortly before he made a mistake and was taken away, he was well aware that it was only time. A man in the shadows warned him of that, warned him that more of their, of his, kind would find him. He wasn’t quite sure what the phantom meant by their kind, he saw nothing of himself in the people that took him away but he could of always meant other twisted people like him, people that didn’t care about the value of human life. The man was able to tell that night was falling as the temperature of the air around him began to drop, the growing chill soon had his teeth chattering away while he struggled to maintain his body heat, and his consciousness as his mind slipped, slipped, slipped into an uncomfortable stillness.

“I told you, it came from over here!” A voice called out in the darkness, one of the group had strayed close to the man’s position, but he couldn’t move away, his body was frozen in place and possibly frozen in a rather literal sense as his body was cold and wet when he initially fell asleep. “There!” The voice called out, the sound of footsteps rushing over kept the man informed of their position. “Holy shit… Sir, are you okay?!” They asked, their voice filled with concern as they picked him up, his lack of weight from his mistreatment at the facility making it easy for them to lift him. Usually his ego would have made him protest but he was enjoying their heat far too much to care. Finally, he had something to enjoy, no matter how temporary. “Don’t worry, I got you,” They cooed softly. It must have been hard for them to tell if he was awake or asleep, he didn’t blame them, he often got them mixed up too as the words would narrate the world around him while he slept, meaning he was always aware of what happened. 

A few hours later the man awoke again but this time with him being surrounded with warmth, fresh clothes, a blanket, a well lit fire and someone holding him tight all adding to it. He heard one of the members of the group ask the one holding him if they were sure about their actions, he was about to interject that he wasn’t dangerous anymore before they spoke up. “Of course I’m sure! He’s injured and he was freezing. I have the highest body temperature out of all of us so I should be the one holding him. Plus, I’m a doctor!” Their final words were teasing, and he couldn’t understand why until he heard two voices groan out that they were also doctors. “Oh hush Iplier, prove to me your degree is real and then you can talk.” They tease again, causing the German voice the man heard to laugh out but caused this Iplier person to make a sound of objection before he decided to just huff and most likely cross his arms. The man thought they were an odd bunch of friends but he could tell that they got along well enough and he could tell he was in good hands. Three doctors, how lucky of him considering the amount of medical assistance he was sure he needed with the amount of pain he was in.

The female voice, the one holding him, called out for one of her friends to get her some more bandages before sitting the man up and removing the fabric from around his eyes that he hadn’t registered before then. She was gentle about cleaning the blood away from his sockets, not once mentioning about what should be there, he could tell she felt uneasy seeing him like that and he didn’t blame her, he would of been uneasy too if he saw that they did to him. “Vhat’s your name?” The German doctor spoke out, his voice more suspicious of the man than the female that tended to his wounds. There had been word of a serial killer escaping a high security facility, much like the one he ran away from, so it was only natural that the doctor would be suspicious, but Arthur wasn’t the serial killer, not anymore anyway, he was practically a different man as he couldn’t use his abilities.

“Arthur… I’m afraid I don’t feel comfortable sharing the rest of it, considering I don’t know your names.” He spoke clearly, or rather as clear as he could for someone who hasn’t eaten and drunk anything in ages as well as he’d been screaming off the top of his head for well over a year now, his voice was raspy and damaged and weak, he cringed as he heard it. He used to sound so confident, now he sounded as if he was fragile, something made out of thin, cracking glass. The female quickly chirped her name out, her happy words bringing his own mood up slightly, especially as he, in his mind, deemed another name better for her - Dove. A small beacon of light in the darkness that surrounded his world at that point. The words she conjured in his head had not appeared for a long time, not since before he was locked away, words of friendship and happiness. He wasn’t entirely sure why his heart had begun to open for her but he hoped to find out as it hurt him to know that his heart would try to change his love already but a part of him reasoned that his muse would have probably gotten married and moved on by now, she was lovely so he didn’t see why she wouldn’t have found someone. Even then, he’d stay true. He swore himself to her so he’d be hers no matter what. He was probably just grateful for the kindness and blowing it out of proportion. How human of him.

The German doctor huffed quietly, but Arthur knew what he was doing, he knew what all members of the group were doing. A fact that comforted him and upset him greatly, he wished he knew what the members of his old life were doing. “My name is Henrik Von Schneeplestein. Zhe ozher man iz Edvard Iplier. Ve’re all doctahs az you know vrom zhe frau.” His accent was heavy but oddly enough had a hint of Irish mixed in, Arthur found that a tad funny considering it made Henrik’s accent sound almost false. Exaggeratedly so. After giving Dove the bandages she required, Edward paced in the background slightly, muttering to himself about taking precaution around a stranger. Arthur wanted to look around but Dove kept him still as she wrapped the bandages around his eyes, he could already feel more blood come to the surface and seep into the clean material, irritating the man as it meant that the poor female doctor would have to tend to him later on, once the red liquid became too much for the pale bandages. Numbness began to creep up his legs as the need to move grew and grew, remembering how his muse would often tell him off for sitting for far too long when he worked on one of his stories. A pang of pain stormed through his heart as he finally sobered to the realisation that he’d never be able to write ever again, that he was never able to finish all those stories he had jumped into writing. It was disgustingly humbling for the once power driven man. Arthur wiggled his toes to fight away the pins and needles that attacked his feet, not wanting to alert the others by standing suddenly. “Do you have anyvone ve could contact?” Henrik asked gently, being cautious as there was no way to know if it was a sore subject or not which was probably a good idea as they didn’t know about the writer’s track record. The invisible ink and blood that stained his hands with each of his vile actions. But, that was in the past and nothing could be done now, Arthur would reason. 

All the - now ex - author could do was shake his head. There was no way he could go back to his Muse like this. He needed to be healthy, needed to show that the kidnapping hadn’t broken him, that he was still capable of looking after her - like he promised he would. “I mean, there are but I couldn’t tell you if they had changed their details or not. I’ve been missing for so long…” His weak voice muttered, his nails scratching slowly on his stubble covered cheek, catching the hairs as keratin scraped across keratin. An action that would occur every time he grew his beard out, his Muse loved it even if he didn’t. “It’s been a good few years at least…” He sighed, the deep red liquid escaping his eyes once more and acted like the tears he was unable to weep no matter how much anguish he felt. Arthur could just about hear Dove spill out about how sorry she felt, how she wished to help. Pity was something he was going to have to get used to, he knew that much. “Ah, shit. I have no idea where I am, no idea where my friends live now and I can’t even see. What am I supposed to do now?” Arthur’s head quickly fell into his hands, his head now swimming with questions and worries, his want for something to write on growing with the second as it was almost always the answer to his questions - a comfort blanket that he could no longer have.

“You could stay with Ed and I!” Dove chirped out, her words causing Iplier to exclaim out a ‘WHAT?!’. “Oh, hush, Eddie. We have a spare room and he needs a place to stay. He can’t stay with Henrik because he has to look after Chase. And there’s no way I’m going to let him try to live on his own without helping him settle back into society!” The woman crossed her arms as she glared at the man she was addressing, making him feel like a jerk for even contemplating about not helping the poor bandaged man. Edward was no fool, however, as he knew what it meant when someone shared his face. Another member of the supernatural. The dark haired doctor sighed, almost immediately giving into the woman he loved, accepting to let Arthur move in. As long as she was happy. The author thanked the pair and asked if they could travel there now as he had more than enough of the forest. An excited squeal left Dove before she rushed off to her tent, rushing around to collect her things which encouraged her friends to do the same. Henrik taking his time so he could keep an eye on Arthur, just in case the poor man needed assistance at any point, a sort of paternal instinct taking over him much like when he was taking care of his depressed, alcoholic roommate, safe to say that the German was the parent friend of the group. 

Arthur couldn’t stop himself from saying thank you repeatedly as the group of four made their way back to civilisation, him being lead by Edward who was holding onto the man’s sleeve. Turns out it was the dark haired doctor’s clothes that were now on the writer’s back. The pair surprisingly got along rather well, having talked for most of the walk back, the other doctors chirping in every now and again. Henrik joked that it must of been a hidden brotherly bond because the pair looked exactly alike aside from Arthur’s missing eyes but it was mostly just Edward giving his lookalike a chance considering they were going to live together and his ego driven self made him want to impress Dove. Turns out, he approved of Arthur’s nickname as he believed it was rather fitting. Soon enough, the group had walked into a warm building, Ed and Dove’s home, and gathered in the living room so they could discuss on what they should do next. Henrik wanted to check Arthur over again just to make sure they didn’t skip over anything. Dove wanted to immediately start adjusting the spare room to Arthur’s liking, always enjoying the decorating process and always liked to have an excuse to change a room around. Ed, who at that point knew Arthur the best out of the trio, suggested to let him rest while they went and picked up some more clothes for the man as they didn’t need him around to try on clothes, he’d soon become Edward’s size once he started eating regularly. They went with a mixture of ideas, Dove planning the room changes, Arthur resting after Henrik checked him over and Edward heading out to collect some new clothes for his new roommate. While this was all happening, Arthur slowly planned out a way to find his way home so he could be with his love again.

 

But, for now, he was just glad to be a free man again.

 


End file.
